Fall of the Eleventh
by hdw
Summary: Regeneration Story. The Doctor and Clara find themselves on a snowy planet, looking to hide from their hundreds of enemies. They soon realise they've walked right into a trap, and it's too late to save everyone.
1. Prologue

Wren stared into space through the small glass windows of old kitchen. Between the gaps of the large trees surrounding her wooden hut, she counted 3 moons and 2 distant planets, big and bold in their home amongst the stars. The midwinter sky more than made up for the snow and the cold. Wren cast her eyes down the ground, where the snow was knee-deep at least. She groaned at the prospect of shoveling snow in the morning. Walking to her village became more arduous with each trip. The snow slowed her down greatly, especially when she was carrying bags of raw meat on her back on her return trips. She really ought to learn to hunt.  
Wren shut the curtains and returned to her chair. The hut seemed bigger since Dad had died. Whole corners of the house left untouched, collecting dust and spider webs. Wren looked at the single picture frame on the wall above the fire. Dad sat on a village bench smiling at the camera, holding Wren in his arms. Her left hand was wrapped around his index finger.

_"Wren, listen to me. You have to run. I can hold them back for a while, but you have to go. Go back to the hut, you'll be safe there."  
Wren held on tight to Charlie's hand as they shuffled slowly backwards through the snow. She kept her eyes wide open, forcing them to work through the pain.  
"Dad, I'm not leaving you! Not like we left Mum. Don't you remember? We can do this together. Two pairs of eyes, we can hold them off! Just keep moving, please." Wren started to cry. She felt her fathers hand stroke her blonde hair.  
"Don't cry my darling; you won't be able to see them. Please, go now. There's too many. I promised your mother that I'd keep you safe, all those years ago." He kissed his daughters head, keeping his eyes on the statues.  
"Do this for me Wren. My brave girl. Run."_

Wren forced her eyes away from the photo. Memories of her parents were coming back more than ever, now she spent so much time alone. The days were so empty, the hours seemed to blur together into one long nightmare. The nightmare had really begun 7 years ago, when she was 12 years old. The year the Devil came to her planet. The Devil, and all the monsters he had brought in his wake.  
As Wren prepared for bed, something impossible happened.  
A knock at the door. Wren froze where she stood, her eyes fixed on the door.  
Another knock. Wren crept towards her kitchen drawers, silently opened the second one and retrieved her mother's pistol.  
A third knock. She closed the drawer and crept towards the front entrance. Who would come to her house at this time? In fact, no one ever visited Wren. Not for a long time.  
A fourth knock, louder than the rest. As she reached the door, she heard a young woman's voice on the other side.  
"There's obviously no one home. We should go, something's not right. Doctor!"  
Wren screamed as the door flew open.


	2. Snow

The TARDIS landed without a fuss. Clara took her hands off of railing and walked towards the door. Before she opened it, she looked back at the Doctor, raising her eyebrow.  
"No idea," he said with a grin.  
"How can you have no idea? You parked us here! At least look at the monitor," she demanded playfully.  
The Doctor waltzed around the TARDIS console to the monitor screen. The screen showed a white plain, with a wall of trees in the distance.  
"Snow!" the Doctor exclaimed.  
"Snow?" Clara turned around to face him. She gestured to her short red dress and wedge heels. "I thought we agreed to only going to hot planets! Don't you remember what happened when we got out of the Ice Warrior submarine?"

"It's warm snow," he replied.  
Clara was used to the Doctor saying ridiculous things. Recently she had made an effort to act casual whenever he tried to surprise or baffle her with his knowledge of other planets. She knew he got a kick out of bewildering his companions, and it was funny to see his disappointment when she didn't react the way he wanted.  
"How warm?" she asked, holding back a smirk.  
The Doctor glared at her. "Find out for yourself," he said, poking his tongue out.  
Clara sighed before turning around and thrusting open the TARDIS' doors.

The sunlight shone down heavily on her face.  
"Ah yes," the Doctor said from behind her, "this planet orbits two suns. We better not be outside for too long. I didn't pack any sunscreen."  
Clara's eyes adjusted, and she looked what lay ahead of her. The TARDIS had landed in a snowy clearing, meters away from a vast row of trees. It was hard to see clearly, but it appeared to be the beginning of a very large forest.  
"What's in the forest?" Clara asked.  
"Could be anything," the Doctor replied.  
"Humans?"  
"Maybe."  
"Aliens?"  
"Most likely."  
"Daleks?"  
Clara looked back at the Doctor for reassurance. She didn't say it, but he could tell she was scared. Her eyes always gave her away. He patted her on the back.  
"I have a good feeling about this planet. They can't find us here."  
"They did last time."  
"Last time was different. Trust me."  
Clara looked into his deep into his eyes for a few seconds. She must have found what she was looking for, as she quickly stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the snow.

Even though she was expecting it, the sensation was still completely surreal.  
"See, warm snow! What did I tell you?" the Doctor grinned as he closed the TARDIS doors. Clara had a mind a throw a snowball at his face, but she refrained.  
"It's amazing!" she replied, unable hide her enthusiasm. Why couldn't snow be warm all the time? Sometimes it was better not to question sciencey-things when it came to travelling with the Doctor. She couldn't resist picking some snow up in her hands and playing with it. It felt like being wrapped up in a warm blanket in bed. The Doctor smiled at her, and started to walk forwards.  
"Come along Oswald," he said, "don't get too distracted or it could take hours to find something interesting."  
Clara formed the snow into a ball and threw it at the Doctor's head. Somehow he ducked at the last second.  
"Missed!" he shouted, without turning around. Clara huffed as she ran to keep up with him.

Clara's fascination with the snow wore off as it started to melt into her shoes. The melted slush was still warm, but it felt gross and soggy on her feet. They had been walking through the forest for almost an hour now. The Doctor was rambling on about one of his ridiculous adventures.  
"…And it turned out Anne wasn't a Zygon after all! I'll never forgive myself for telling Henry to chop off her-"  
"Doctor, look!" Clara pointed to the left. A wooden hut lay in the distance, hidden well amongst the thick trees.  
"Ooh, good spotting! I knew I kept you around for a reason," the Doctor said. He flinched as Clara hit him on the arm.  
They walked together towards the hut, Clara holding the Doctors arm for support.  
"It looks creepy," she said.  
"Chicken," he replied. They reached the small clearing surrounding the hut. All the curtains were shut.  
"Curtains! That's a good sign. Love a pair of curtains," the Doctor said.  
Clara kept quiet and gestured for the Doctor to knock. He knocked twice. Nothing. They looked at each other.  
"Doctor.. I don't think we should be here," Clara whispered.  
He knocked again, and pressed his ear to the door. His eyes widened.  
"What is it?" Clara asked, clearly frightened.  
"I think…" he trailed off.  
He knocked one more time.  
"There's obviously no one home. We should go, something's not right. Doctor!" Clara jumped as the Doctor pushed open the door.

Inside the house, a girl screamed. The Doctor stood still, keeping Clara behind him.  
"It's OK, we're nice!" he exclaimed.  
The girl in front of him looked terrified. She was tall and blonde, her green eyes open wider than seemed normal. In her right hand she held a small pistol, aimed directly at the Doctor.  
"Who are you?!" she shouted, breathing heavily.  
"I'm the Doctor, this is Clara. Say hello Clara," the Doctor said quickly.  
"Hello," Clara smiled, very wary of the gun in the girls hands.  
"We're not here to hurt you, we just want to talk," the Doctor said. His voice so calm and reassuring, Clara wondered how he could even speak with a gun pointed at his head. The girl didn't lower her gun.  
"There's no Doctor's around here," she replied, her voice weak and shaky.  
"It's more of a nickname," the Doctor said.  
"What's your real name?" the girl asked.  
The Doctor stared blankly at her, before looking straight into the barrel of the gun.  
"His name is Rory. Rory Williams," Clara jumped in.  
"How did you find my house?"  
"Clara and I we're walking through the forest when we saw it through the trees. Clara insisted on knocking, she's craving food. Do you have any sandwiches?" The Doctor walked inside, seeming to ignore the weapon pointed at him. He settled down on a chair in the kitchen. "Even a slice of bread would do. She's desperate."  
Clara rolled her eyes. Trust the Doctor to break into someones house and ask for a sandwich. The blonde girl followed him into the kitchen, leaving Clara to shut the door and walk behind her.

The house seemed smaller on the inside, but seemed strangely empty. There were no decorations or ornaments, just a few bits of furniture and a single photo on the wall.  
"You can't just walk into my house like that!" The girl was clearly panicked, she mustn't get visitors very often.  
"Sorry I didn't catch your name," the Doctor said, ignoring her protest.  
"Wren Epsilon," she responded. She studied their faces. Clara had settled down in the chair beside the Doctor. They were definitely weird, but not in a bad way. Wren decided to trust them, and put the pistol down on the kitchen bench.  
"'Atta girl Wren! Lovely name that. Firstly, Miss Epsilon, where are we exactly?"  
"What do you mean?" Wren asked.  
"Country, planet, give me anything," the Doctor said.  
"Right... This is the Second Great Kappa Forest of Alphoma, on western edge of the Dark Continent. You're really not from around here are you?" Wren looked overwhelmed.  
"No, we're really not." Clara responded with a weak smile.  
"So Wren, who else lives here? Mum, Dad, brothers or sisters? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?" the Doctor asked.  
Wren paused for a moment before answering. "I live alone. My mother was killed when I was five years old, and my father was taken by the Weeping Angels a few years back."  
The Doctor and Clara looked at each other, alarmed.  
"It's okay, they've all gone now. I haven't seen any since," Wren said.  
The Doctor stood up from his chair. "I'm very sorry about your parents Wren. You're a very brave girl. Clara, we're leaving." He seemed agitated.  
"I don't understand, there's no danger. The monsters are gone. I promise." For some reason Wren didn't want them to leave. She hadn't had company in her house for so long.  
Clara stood up from her chair and looked at Wren in the eyes. The blonde girl looked as though she were about to cry.  
"You answered the door with a gun," Clara said, "That doesn't scream 'no danger' to me. "

"I wasn't expecting company! Please, tell me what you're so scared of. It's frightening me," Wren said, attempting to hide any emotion in her voice.  
The Doctor turned to face Wren as he reached the front door.  
"Clara and I… trouble tends to follow us wherever we go. If there have been Weeping Angels here before, then this planet isn't safe for us. We may have put you in danger by coming here. It's hard to explain. I'm sorry." He grabbed the door handle.

"Take me with you?" Wren asked.


	3. Monsters

Wren shut the door behind her.  
"You two have a spaceship?" she asked as she caught up with Clara.  
"Why are you so surprised?" the Doctor replied, slightly offended.  
"I dunno, I've never met anyone with a spaceship before. What's it like?"  
"Huge," Clara answered with a smile, "you'll see. There's a swimming pool, a library, even a room made of cheese!"  
The Doctor turned around. "No there isn't!"  
"Yes there is! I saw it yesterday!" Clara responded defiantly.  
"You're lying."  
"I swear! There was feta all over the walls."  
"You really are the strangest people I have ever met," Wren shook her head, a smile growing on her face. Clara felt sorry for the blonde girl. Being alone all the time at her age must be difficult, especially on this planet.

"Why is the snow warm?" she asked.  
Wren laughed. "I don't really know. It's not warm all the time; we've been pretty lucky this year. Most of the time it's-" Wren noticed the Doctor had stopped walking. "Rory? What's wrong?" she asked. He was staring at markings on a nearby tree.  
"Doctor?" Clara asked.  
He continued to stare at the tree. He reached out and touched the markings with his hands. Two parallel cuts had been made right across the trunk.  
"There's been more than just Weeping Angels in this forest," he said grimly. He turned to Wren.  
"Clara lied, my name isn't Rory. Please don't call me that. It's the Doctor. Just the Doctor. Now, I'm sorry to ask you this Wren, but it might be important; how did your mother die?"

_"Daddy, what are those machines?"  
"I don't know sweetheart." Wren's father held her hand as they ran through the forest, away from their village.  
"They killed Lorna's little brother."  
__**EXTERMINATE!**__  
Another scream echoed through the forest. This one sounded closer, maybe 100 meters back.  
Charlie didn't know how comfort her. Everything was a blur.  
"It's going to be okay, we just have to keep running," he said.  
"And all the men by the fish market," Wren said, her little feet trying furiously to keep up with Dad.  
"I know baby. But we escaped; we're going to be fine. I promise. Katt?" He turned his head. His wife had fallen further behind, her pace slowing to a fast walk. She clutched her stomach; her pain visible with every step. He tried to ignore the dark smoke rising in the distance behind her.  
"It's hurting him," Katt cried.  
Charlie ran his hands through his hair, trying to stay calm for Wren.  
"I'll carry you," he said, returning to his wife. He held out his arms to pick her up.  
"Charlie, no. I'm not going to slow you down. Go with Wren. Now!" she shouted at her husband.  
__**EXTERMINATE!  
**__It was close now. __Neither Charlie nor Wren had moved, and Katt began to cry.__**  
**__"Please! Wren, please, go with your father now. I'll be right behind you. If one of them comes, I'll.. hide behind a tree."  
Charlie embraced his wife, holding his hand on her stomach. They looked into each other's eyes.  
"You keep our daughter alive, no matter what," Katt whispered into his ear. He nodded.  
Katt gave a weak smile to Wren, who was hugging her leg.  
"We'll get through this, the four of us. I love you both so much. Now go!"_

"Wren? Are you okay?"  
The Doctor and Clara looked down at Wren. She had fallen to the ground halfway through telling the story of her mother's death.

"Wren?" Clara shook her shoulder. The girl was conscious, but her mind was a million miles away.  
"Doctor…" Clara gave him a troubled look.  
"I know."  
"She said the Daleks killed her Mum."  
"I know. We need to leave."  
"We can't just leave Wren lying in the snow! Help me lift her."  
The blonde girl seemed to react to being lifted out of the snow by the Doctor and Clara.  
"Wh..what happened?" Her eyes darted around, unable to focus.  
Clara tried to reassure her, "You're fine, you just got a bit confused while telling us about your mother. We're taking you to our spaceship..."  
"Wren, why did the Daleks come to your village?" the Doctor asked in his serious voice. Wren didn't respond.  
"The Weeping Angels? Why were they here? What is it about this forest, this planet? Wren?"  
Suddenly Wren's eyes fixed on the Doctor's. Her confused expression conformed into a frown.  
"He brought them here," she whispered.  
The Doctor's eyes narrowed.  
"Who did? Who brought them here?" Clara asked.  
Wren's eyes darted to meet Clara's.  
"The devil. The warrior. All those years ago, he came to this planet, followed by his army of monsters. When he left, the monsters stayed behind. He cursed us."

Clara looked at the Doctor. She had a terrible feeling about this.  
"Wren Epsilon," the Doctor said quietly, " you never told us the name of this planet," the Doctor said quietly. He was shaking.  
Wren shrugged. "Trenzalore."  
The three stood in silence for a second, before the sound of thunder hit the air, and hundreds of pairs of silver metal boots hit the forest floor.


End file.
